Italian Roasted Cauliflower Salad

As we head into the weekend, I thought we’d explore Southern Italy a bit more as part of my Culinary Staycation series. Last week, we dined on a simple Tuna Salad Caprese on the gorgeous island of Capri. Today, we’ll travel south to the tippy-toe of the Italian boot, to the region known as Calabria.

The Church on the Island – Tropea, Calabria, Italy

Calabria’s geography, with direct access to the Ionian and Tyrrhenian Seas, made it desirable to a number of conquering nations throughout history. During the 8th century B.C. the Greeks ruled, followed 500 years later by the Romans… then the Teutons, the Goths, the Lombards, the French, the Sicilians, the Spaniards… the list goes on. Each conquering nation made an impression on the local cuisine, giving Calabria a tapestry of amazing flavors to play with.

Calabria, Italy – Tropea la Costa

Some of the most important ingredients in Calabrian cuisine were introduced by the Arabs– eggplant, citrus, artichokes, and raisins are all major players in Calabrian cooking. The Spaniards and French brought their own influences. With all of these colorful countries in the mix, it’s no wonder that Calabrian food has so much flavor… it’s anything but tame. Strong flavors like chili peppers, salty brined capers, and lemon juice abound.

Le Castella, Crotone – Calabria, Italy

I adapted this salad from a wonderful cookbook (now out of print) called “The Food of Southern Italy” by Carlo Middione. This book is a treasure trove of authentic Italian cooking. In this traditional Calabrian salad, cooked cauliflower is drizzled with olive oil and tossed with olives, capers, parsley and chili flakes. I took many liberties with the dish; to start, I roasted the cauliflower rather than boiling it to release the natural sugars and give it some caramelized flavor. I cut the olive oil a bit to make the salad lighter, and added lemon juice to brighten the flavor for summer. The original recipe calls for anchovies, but I didn’t have any on hand so I left them out, choosing to double the amount of olives instead (you can add 8 chopped filets if you like, but cut the amount of olives in half so you’re not overwhelmed with salty flavor). The salad includes a lot of salty ingredients, so I’ve made the salt optional… taste and adjust seasonings as desired.

This salad is super healthy and flavorful. It’s vegan, gluten free, and works for both Mediterranean and low carb diets. Enjoy!

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Place a rack in the center of your oven and preheat to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil for easier cleanup, if desired. Pull the leaves off of the cauliflower base. Cut off the lower part of the stem.

Cut the head of cauliflower into four quarters.

Slice each quarter into 6-8 pieces. You want as many flat surfaces as possible on each floret-- the flat surfaces caramelize best. Caramelization is the key to giving the roasted cauliflower flavor-- those golden, sugary juices take this veggie from good to amazing.

Give all the florets a thorough rinse in a colander. Shake them dry.

Place the florets in a large bowl and drizzle them with 1 tbsp olive oil. Add the minced garlic florets to the bowl. Toss the cauliflower florets till they're coated with olive oil and minced garlic.

Spread the florets out in an even layer on the baking sheet. Reserve any small bits of cauliflower that have fallen away from the florets in a small bowl. Sprinkle the cauliflower florets lightly with pepper.

Place the baking sheet into the preheated oven and let the cauliflower roast for 10 minutes. While cauliflower is roasting, prep your other ingredients-- chop the parsley, juice the lemon, etc.

After 10 minutes, remove the baking sheet from the oven. Use tongs to turn over the florets, making sure that the florets with flat surfaces are pressed directly against the baking sheet. This will enhance caramelization. Sprinkle the reserved cauliflower bits onto the baking sheet. Return the baking sheet to the oven. Let the cauliflower roast for 10-20 minutes longer till tender. When it's ready you will be able to pierce it easily with a fork.

Remove the cauliflower from the oven. Spread it out on a large plate or platter and allow to cool.

Throw the room temperature cauliflower into a salad bowl along with the remaining 3 tbsp of olive oil, parsley, chopped olives, capers, lemon juice and red pepper flakes. The red pepper flakes are very spicy, add with care.

Toss gently to combine all ingredients. Season with salt and pepper to taste (I didn't add any salt because the olives and capers are salty, but some might like a touch of salt added to this dish). You can also add more olive oil to taste, if desired.

Serve salad at room temperature. Italians like to serve this salad with warm freshly baked bread and copious amounts of olive oil. Served on its own the way I've described here, it is gluten free, low carb, and heart healthy.

Passover Note: If you're making this for Passover, note that it is difficult to find capers with a kosher for Passover hechsher. If you're worried about the hechsher, substitute 3 more tbsp of chopped olives for the capers.

Comments

So Delicious! Only change was to add lemon zest as well. Golden raisins would be an interesting addition. This is going to become a staple in our house. Happy to find a super-flavorful and easy “wow” side to serve guests. (Tasting note: pairs well with Corona). Thanks for this recipe! ?

My easiest way to roast cauliflower is to coat the cauliflower in the roasting pan with lots of olive oil. You don’t need to measure the amount, just till it is all coated. I sprinkle some dried thyme and oregano over all …not too much. Next I take about hall cup of panko breadcrumbs and pour olive oil in the cup till the crumbs are moistened. Mix thisin the pan w cauliflower. Thinly slice about 8 cloves of garlic and sprinkle on top. I roast at 450 for about 25/30 min. Mix midway. Then you can add whatever else you like. Just made the above recipe and now about to try adding these other ingredients, sounds delicious:)

I was looking for a lighter cauliflower salad recipe and found this. Delicious. It was hot and I don’t have air conditioning so I pan roasted the cauliflower which worked great. I also thought that the recipe could use a little bit of sweet to offset the briny olives and capers so I roughly chopped about 2 Tbls of raisins and it was perfect.

This was great, thank you! I’ve lived in Italy and had something like this once, but never had the recipe. I will mention one of my best cooking ‘tricks’ learned while living in Germany. Pretty much any dish that involves cauliflower (or spaetzle) is made extra delicious by the addition (at the end/as a topping) of browned butter breadcrumbs. That is, make your breadcrumbs, brown some butter, and mix the two with a bit of salt. You want the breadcrumbs soaking up the butter, but not drippy. I tried the breadcrumbs on this and loved it even more!

This looks wonderful. I love cauliflower and capers but not olives of any kind. Can you or anyone else commenting here suggest a substitute? I also can’t eat beans or green peppers so they would not work either.

I learned how to roast peppers from you and it’s one of my favorites now, I put them in everything. I was just getting ready to roast some and realized I had both an eggplant and cauliflower in the fridge and thought, I wonder if I can roast them too? So here I am because I was sure you would have the answer. Just finished reading about the eggplant and will do that next. I searched “low carb” from your index and that brought me to this recipe. I love your site! Thank you for sharing.

Love this salad. Riffed on it a bit for a BBQ party by adding toasted pigoilis, golden raisins, and a light Dijon aioli cut with mayo and a touch of heavy cream, then added thinly sliced lemons and a squeeze of juice as I didn’t have any preserved lemons.

we had a street party at the weekend to celebrate the start of the tennis and as a consequence had lots of unused bits of veggie / herbs languishing in the fridge. What on earth do I do with a slightly sad ‘half a cauli’. Well after googling and discovering your site even though I only had half a cauli I was able to produce a fantastic mini side to accompany grilled plaice and a red cabbage salad. The Anchovies and black kalamata olives add a brilliant robust flavour. A salad version of pasta puttanesca . My poor hubbie; tomorrow I am off to Kingston upon Thames street market with my shopper trolley to snap up half a dozen cauli’s ( bulk buy = better negotiating on price) I can see a week ahead of this fantastic dish in various formats

Looks delicious. I usually roast cauliflower with rosemary. Coat pan with a liitle oil first. Roast at 400-delicious and always a hit. Thank you for sharing this treat . Will have to make this week. Happy Purim.

Great salad, and I’ve passed it on to my dieting friends- they went crazy over it! I added 2 tsps of a balsamic glaze (balsamic reduction) which added another dimension to the dressing. Thanks for another great recipe!

This salad just rocked my world. I have been looking for a simple cauliflower dish since visiting Sicily last year. I didn’t have any olives so I left them out entirely, but it was fantastic nonetheless! I’ll be adding this mouthwatering salad to my arsenal! Thank you for sharing!

Hi Tori, I am such a fan of your other Roasted Cauliflower recipe so will try this one…however I am not a fan of the black type olives. I only like the green ones…wondering if they would work instead? Or maybe some Feta? Thanks as always, love your site and you!